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so, i’ve put off blogging a little because we have been so busy during the holiday season. i also cannot capitalize anything, because isabela broke the shift keys on my laptop!! so please excuse the lack of capitalization!

so, the last of our many visitors have left, and my heart is very sad. my sister and brother-in-law came to spend christmas with us, and we had fun opening up our gifts early! i promise to post pictures in the upcoming days. aurelia and i had some interesting theological conversations, some of which i will share. i love to talk to aurelia about GOD and theological topics, because not only is she incredibly gifted with the ability to interpret scripture, but her years in seminary school are really showing and it makes it all so much more interesting.

angela and i will miss aurelia very much. she is our baby sister and holds such a special place in our heart.

last night, chris and i had to take off to southern illinois early due to crazy ice and snow storm conditions. we spent the night in hannibal ( due to isabela absolutely hating her carseat and refusing to sleep in it) and made it to bethalto, illinois today. during the car ride, i read the christmas story from the gospels and chris and i talked a little about our thoughts on it.

i told chris that after having isabela, i felt closer to GOD then i have ever felt in my life. it’s true. i feel that my love for her is the closest i will ever get to understanding the divine love our FATHER has for us. the only way that i can explain it is like this. basically, everyone that we love in our life has come to earn our love and trust. our friends, spouses and even our family have had to work hard to receive our love! but, i love isabela simply for who she is. she will never have to work to earn my love. no matter what she does, how she treats me, or what happens between us, i will always love her …my love for her is indescribable, constant, and unwavering.GOD love us all in this way. except a million times more. well, more like a trillion. and then some. none of us can even fathom the realms of HIS love. It is impossible and out of the scope of human understanding. HE, in fact, loved us SO much, that he gave up his only son to die for our sins.

wow. as a mother , i cannot even imagine. and so, chris and i began to talk about what is was like for mary. mary was a very young and poor girl betrothed to joseph. she became pregnant and had to tell joseph that an angel told her she would give birth to a savior, ONE who would save us from our sins. ONE who would be called JESUS. man, joseph must have thought she was crazy!but joseph must have really believed in mary’s sanity and even in her pureness. because he planned to divorce her quietly, rather than to have her stoned, which was the law in that time. can any of us imagine what that would be like?

so, anyhow we continued to talk about this and we eventually began to talk about how the wisemen and shepherds came to seek out JESUS and worship him. they came with great joy, desiring nothing but to bow down and worship HIM. and this lead us to discuss the importance of seeking out JESUS in our daily lives.

so much is out there that makes it seem like GOD is here because of us, when in actuality, we are here because of HIM! aurelia and i were talking about how no matter how much we try to make christmas only about CHRIST, much of it will still be about opening gifts. and, no matter how much we worship GOD, alot about worship is about us. what we need. how we need to feel. we NEED to be fulfilled. we NEED to feel replenished. we NEED to worship HIM to be able to get through the week, etc.

but, you know what… we shouldn’t be going into worship, waiting for GOD to seek us out. we need to be going into worship, seeking GOD out. the wisemen and shepherds came to find JESUS, and were overjoyed when they finally found HIM. thinking about this, i wondered…do i worship him with a joyous spirit? do i purposely seek out GOD during my worship times? or do it make it about myself…forgetting about how worthy GOD is of praise. and, by the way, you don’t have to be at church to worship HIM. worship is simply praising GOD for who HE is. anyhow, thats a whole other subject i could blog about!

anyhow, this little blog is getting very random and unorganized, but the main point is this. we need to seek out GOD daily. spend time with him. talk to him. praise him, worship him, and fear him. at all times. not just during christmas. we shouldn’t let the little things get us mad and get us detoured from the gospel of CHRIST. every year, there is someone who sues for a public nativity scene, or for religious symbols on a christmas tree. or someone gets mad for spelling christmas like xmas ( which in actuality, the x in xmas is the symbol for christ in greek, i believe). well you know what? an angel on the top of a tree or a public nativity scene in no way defines my faith. changing the spelling of christmas means nothing. GOD didn’t create christmas, and HE doesn’t need christmas as an act of worship and celebration. GOD wants way more than that from us. HE wants ALL of us. everything we have to give. he want to KNOW us SO intimately. inside and out. little things like christmas decorations, christmas spellings, etc… those things do NOT determine what it means to love JESUS and to live a daily life of following HIM and HIS word. they do not show others the amazing-ness of having a relationship with GOD.

and more importantly, these things are not in any way the foundation for my faith in CHRIST. i urge you to NOT get overwhelmed or to feel defeated this christmas season. remember that GOD called us to be kind to one another and to love one another. we shouldn’t pretend to love one another , but really do it, genuinely. we are called to spread the love of GOD, to everyone. not just to those who we deem worthy.

so lets spend our time and make a challenge to ourselves – that we should truly make an effort to love one another. that we should give our love to each other in the same way GOD gives our love to us. that we will always remember that JESUS died for our sins, and that we should die for others by being selfless , giving, and not complaining.

JESUS is the reason for the season. I choose to remember HIM this season by staying in his word, praying and worshipping him, and by loving others the way that HE loves me.

thank you, if you got to the end of this. i apologize for the randomness and especially for the poor writing and structure. thats what happens when your child still doesn’t sleep through the night and when your trying to blog in a roomful of happy and loud people. I also just want to remind any lurkers that I am not an expert in the WORD, i am not a seminary student or even a super smart person. i’m just a humble tiny person who has an immense love for my FATHER.

I John 4:9: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

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wow. These holidays have been very stressful for me. I have a blog in the works, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be back to blogging regularly soon. I have a doctors appt to run to today….I think I might have mastitis.

not good.

I’m trying to figure out a way to not be stressed and a way to get more rest. wish me luck.

to cheer myself up, here is one picture from some of Isa’s Christmas portraits.